"Aryan" foreigners in the Reich?

Discussions on every day life in the Weimar Republic, pre-anschluss Austria, Third Reich and the occupied territories. Hosted by Vikki.
Post Reply
User avatar
WW2Researcher
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: 01 Jun 2016, 13:22
Location: Greece

"Aryan" foreigners in the Reich?

#1

Post by WW2Researcher » 02 Jun 2016, 12:41

Were foreigners who were considered "Aryans" by the Reich propaganda, such as Britons, Swedes or French, allowed to leave in Germany and have equal rights as the German citizens? Did the Nuremberg Laws affect them too?

michael mills
Member
Posts: 8999
Joined: 11 Mar 2002, 13:42
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: "Aryan" foreigners in the Reich?

#2

Post by michael mills » 03 Jun 2016, 08:23

Under the Reichsbuergergesetz, one of the so-called Nuremberg Laws, Reich citizenship was reserved for persons " of German or related blood (artverwandten Blutes)".

In practice, any person of unmixed European descent who was not Jewish was considered to be "of related blood", and hence could obtain Reich citizenship. That applied in the pre-war period, but after the beginning of the war citizens of countries at war with Germany, eg Poland, Britain, France, became enemy aliens, and their "race" no longer mattered.


User avatar
sarahgoodson
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: 31 Oct 2015, 22:04
Location: London

Re: "Aryan" foreigners in the Reich?

#3

Post by sarahgoodson » 03 Jun 2016, 09:00

Michael mills is right.

The Nazis made all Germans who wanted to be citizens to provide proof of their Aryan ancestry.

Here is what the Ahnenpass looked like:

Image

"Der Rassegrundsatz/Der Begriff der arischen Abstammung“ („ein Engländer ... oder Tscheche, ein Pole ... als verwandt, also als arisch")"

People of European ancestry such as English or Polish could be citizens of the Reich.

The Nuremberg Laws did not mention "Aryans" but rather "German or related blood", this was because the Nazis knew scientifically there was no such thing as the Aryan race or a Jewish race. Accordingly, the Nazis recognised that all of the European peoples were of related blood.

Despite this, some Nazis considered some peoples of Europe as racially inferior, most notably the Slavs.

Post Reply

Return to “Life in the Third Reich & Weimar Republic”